In the world of browsers, fortunes can change terribly fast. If you browsed at all in the '90's, you surely used Netscape, at least for a time. Then IE 6 was the only game in town, while the cool kids started switching to Firefox. Apple's Safari came along, and while it didn't seem as important at first, it became the #1 way people browse from phones and tablets thanks to iOS. And Chrome, built on Safari's Webkit foundation, became the most popular browser. IE still has enormous marketshare, but it lost the mindshare long ago.

All along, in the background, Opera has been the alternate browser that everyone forgot about. It's 15th version just got released — now powered by Chrome's fork of Webkit, of all things — but it's still little more than a blip on web browsing statistics. It's had mobile versions for longer than iOS and Android have been around — I originally used it on a Nokia Symbian device, and later used it on a Windows Mobile 5.1 phone, far before the iPhone was around, much less had native apps.

And yet, it's never become a popular browser. But with Opera 15, more developers like Evernote are making browser extensions for it, and it could just possibly become a more popular browser — but the odds are against it.

That's why we're wondering if you use Opera, or if you used it in the past. We'd love to hear your thoughts about the European browser that won't quit in the comments below.

When you purchased your Mac, you probably wanted the best web browser offered, whether it be Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari, or some other worthy candidate. After all, quality hardware should also contain quality software. There has been much controversy on what truly is the best browser available for a Mac. Some say that Chrome is, and always will be, the best ever.

Others believe that it’s easier to stay with the default browser because it offers more functionality to the OS. While this is true and I’m not going to attempt to change those believers’ opinions, there is more to the situation than just that. For instance, Chrome does offer more than plugins than Safari does extensions, but this doesn’t necessarily make the latter a weak and functionless application, it just makes it a bit less desirable.

If you’re interested in finding out what browser truly holds the best functionality, speed and other elements then please join in after the break for some information that should fulfill your desires.

You can ask just about anybody what browser they’re using, and they will very likely respond with Safari, Firefox or Chrome. I have never met anyone who actually uses Opera for everyday browsing. This is not surprising seeing as how its usage share is 2.4%. And yet, nearly everybody has heard of it. So why do so few people use it?

Today, I’ll be taking a look at Opera, what it has to offer, and whether or not you should consider adopting it as your new favourite browser.